research in context - lecture a - paul van laar

7/21/2019 Research in Context - Lecture a - Paul van Laar

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/research-in-context-lecture-a-paul-van-laar 1/4

Lecture by dr. Rosemary Orr

Paul van Laar dr. Alastair ReedResearch in Context British English

Research in Context 2 October 20!"ords# $%&

“Research in Linguistics”

Dr. Rosemary Orr, senior lecturer in linguistics at University College

Utrecht, was invited to be the frst guest lecturer or the Research in

Conte!t course. "er lecture too# $lace in ront o a small grou$ o frst%

year students. &esides having the res$onsibility o challenging her

audience with interesting inormation, she also had to ma#e the audience

eel at ease as the vast ma'ority o the $ublic had never e!$erienced such

a lecture. Dr. Rosemary Orr did this in a very good manner and her

rela!ed, light%hearted mood seemed to loosen u$ the listeners. (n Orr)s

introduction it immediately became clear what #ind o $erson she is. "er

easy way o tal#ing, while combining im$ortant inormation with amusing

stories, showed a woman with a vast #nowledge o linguistics and awoman who is not araid to say what she thin#s or eels. (t came about

that all the students ma#ing notes on a la$to$ got conronted with her

hate towards the noise o tic#ing #eyboards. *ter the brie o$ening o her

lecture where she introduced hersel the frst $oint o discussion o$ened in

the class.

Dr. Orr +uestioned her $ublic what they thought it was that

linguistics is about. (mmediately terms as language and s'eech werementioned, and Orr agreed with these views. o a ne!t +uestion was

ormed- “hy would linguistics be considered a $art o the humanities

feld/” 0his +uestion was answered by our lecturer hersel. he e!$lained

that linguistics, and thus language and s$eech, is $art o being human. o

i linguistics is a $art o being human, would this mean that a human

being without a orm o language, or s$eech, would not be considered

human/ 0his statement led to dr. Orr)s ne!t +uestion1 “Can you thin# oany human being without language/” 0his +uestion led to a long silence in



class, as everyone was searching or an answer, but ultimately it was

answered by Orr hersel. Orr e!$lained that there is no human being

without language, as everyone, disabled or not, develo$s some orm o

communication.&y now the students had ormed an image o Dr. Rosemary Orr and

a clear view o what linguistics is about and what sub'ects it ocusses on.

2ollowing her e!$lanation o linguistics she gave her listeners insight into

the lie o a $assionate researcher and $resented a brie summary o her

$ast, and $resent researches. Orr researched many di3erent sub'ects, or

as she called them 4variations on a theme( . 0he lecturer told about

researching and analy5ing the source o a voice. 0his $articular e!am$le

was very interesting or her audience, students in a liberal arts and

science college, because this research was really interde$artemental. 0o

fnd the source o the voice, she recorded the sound waves $roduced by

$eo$le and using scientifc #nowledge they could trace it bac# to the

source. *nother $ro'ect was the 4vocabulary standardisation or s$eech

synthesis and recognition in tele$hony) where Orr recorded standard

tele$hone conversations in di3erent languages, and by analysing the data

recorded she set a standardised vocabulary or all those di3erent

languages. hile tal#ing about all her $ro'ects, dr. Rosemary Orr was very

enthusiastic and o$en to all #inds o +uestions and remar#s. "er most

active, $resent $ro'ect is called the 4UCU accent). 2or this $ro'ect she

records UCU students s$ea#ing 6nglish, and tries to fnd a change in

accent that corres$onds with all the students, so a UCU accent is being

ormed.

0he common thread in her $ro'ects was s$eech, and $articularly

how it sounds. ith the sub'ect s'eech inevitably the sub'ect voice

ollows. (t was clear

dr. Orr was ascinated by the $henomenon the voice, as her s$eed o

tal#ing and the amount o her +uestions to the students was increasing. 0o

clariy this sub'ect voice, Orr began using a range o di3erent e!am$les in

her lecture. 7uestions such as 4what ma#es a voice recognisable/) and

4can you change your voice) were among the most interesting and



$roound ones. 0he changing o your voice was clarifed using 8argaret

0hatcher, ormer 9rime 8inister o the United :ingdom, as an e!am$le.

0hatcher used to have a s+uea#y, high voice beore she became 9rime

8inister. o when she decided to become a $owerul $olitician, she had tochange her voice. 0hatcher did this successully and she is one o the ew

$eo$le ever to accom$lish this. 0he +uestion about the recognition o a

voice, was made clear by stating that a voice doesn)t have to be 4human)

or 4ftting) to be recognisable. te$hen "aw#ing o course is a $erect

e!am$le or this statement. te$hen "aw#ing lost his ability to s$ea#, and

he got a mechanic, non%human, voice as a re$lacement. "owever, when

$eo$le hear this voice, they immediately tend to lin# it to the $erson

te$hen "aw#ing. ince "aw#ing got his mechanic voice, one o the frst

ever released, new discoveries have been made and new voices have

been o3ered to "aw#ing. "owever, "aw#ing always denied these new

4better) voices, because he saw this mechanic voice as his own voice. o

we can conclude that a voice doesn)t have to be human to be related to a

certain $erson. &ut this voice does defne the $erson and i he or she

would suddenly use another voice then the $ersonality o this $erson

would seem to change or us.

*s dr. Orr e!$lained s$eech is a com$onent o someone)s

$ersonality, but what does someone)s lie say about his or her voice/ 0his

+uestion is dee$ly lin#ed to dr Orr)s most recent, and still going, research

about the earlier mentioned )*C* accent(. 0his $ro'ect loo#s at how a

language changes i it is used as a lingua ranca, and what an UCU accent

is, i it e!ists at all. &ecause at University College Utrecht $eo$le rom all

nationalities come together and s$ea# 6nglish to each other the

$robability is $resent that some #ind o accent or dialect is ormed. 0he

s$ea#er gave e!am$les such as the word variables, which is $ronounced

wrongly by a big number o students ;and teachers<. 0he UCU accent

research is loo#ing or more o these similarities in the way o s$ea#ing

6nglish between cam$us residents. hile the $roessor was tal#ing about

her research a lot o sub'ects were discussed. 4hy would you start a

$ro'ect li#e this/= im$ly because she li#es to, and because she is



interested in the outcome o the research. 0his +uestion led to an answer

lin#ed to the course Research in Conte!t, as dr. Orr thought this was the

main reason someone should have to start any #ind o research. hilst

e!$laining her $ro'ect a lot o data $assed by and it seemed as there is athing that sounds li#e an UCU accent, but this isn)t certain yet. 0he

beautiul thing about dr. Rosemary Orr is her moral view on research, she

thin#s that research should at all times be shared with the world. 0hat)s

why all the data collected or her UCU accent research is $ublished online

immediately, and anyone who wants to use the data can use it. 0he UCU

students in $articular seemed to li#e this way o thin#ing, as the data can

now be used or research in all #inds o trac#s and de$artments. 0his way

o thin#ing is ty$ical or a liberal arts and science college, so the lecturer)s

way o thin#ing corres$onded to the morals o the students.

e can conclude that dr. Rosemary Orr managed to teach, entertain

and astonish the frst%year students in a clear way. "er vast #nowledge o

linguistics, s$eech and voice surely teased the minds o the students. (

thin# her morality, and her way o loo#ing at research also is an im$ortant

eature o her lecture, because ( ho$e more $eo$le will ollow her e!am$le

and $ublish data so everyone can use it in an useul way. 0he lively way o

tal#ing made sure that her message got across very well. 7uestions were

as#ed about how someone)s voice is lin#ed to their $ersonality, and

whether it is $ossible to $ermanently change your voice, and whether this

is bad or your vocal cords. *ll o these +uestions were answered with the

same enthusiasm and $roessionality as the rest o the sub'ects. 0he light%

hearted atmos$here in the room during the lecture made sure that no one

was e!hausted ater the lecture, and that lead to a well%deserved

a$$lause or the lecturer in the end.

research in context - lecture a - paul van laar

Documents